For Herman Cain, Todd Keefer drove 1,017 miles from his home in York Haven, Penn., to Ames, Iowa.

You only need to hear Cain speak one time, Keefer said, to be hooked. For Keefer, that happened in the fall of 2009 at an Americans for Prosperity conference in Washington, D.C.

Cain was one in a list of speakers at the event that night. Keefer had never heard of him, and soon forgot his name.

But four days after the conference, Keefer said he couldn’t shake the words of that Georgia businessman from his mind. It stuck in his head, he said. Keefer dug through his messy car to find that program that listed Cain’s name.

Keefer made the trek to Iowa a few days ago in his Toyota Corolla to join up with Cain’s bus tour across the state. He was the 60-year-old man standing on the roadsides in towns Cain toured through, holding a white board with the event venue and speaking times on it.

“Fortunately I’m retired, so I can do this,” he said. “And I always like an adventure.”

Keefer said his grassroots volunteering paid off. Last night, he received an email from Cain’s Pennsylvania coordinator, Jim Bromley. He’s now the York County leader for Cain’s campaign.

Now he’s at the straw poll grounds in Ames, carrying his white board high and directing voters to Cain’s tent in the far corner of the grounds.

“That’s a disadvantage,” Keefer said about Cain’s tent location. “But his biggest advantage is always his message.”